The French in Egypt were being threatened by the British Fleet. Napoleon's objective was to compare the Ottoman government to come to terms with the French. He defeated the Turks on the Plain of Jereel and advanced as far as Nazareth and Safed but failed to capture Akka. He withdrew his forces in June of 1799. [Handbook of Palestine edited by H C Luke and E Keith Roach, McMillan, London, 1922 pp22-23, Handbook of Palestine]

Russo-Persian War resulted in a Russian victory. The Battle of Aslan Duz on 31 October 1812 was the turning point in the war, which led to the complete destruction of the Persian army, thus leaving Fath Ali Shah with no other option but to sign the Treaty of Gulistan on 24 October 1813. Numerically, Persian forces had a considerable advantage during the war, a ratio of 5 to 1 over their Russian adversaries, however, the Persian forces were technologically backwards and poorly trained - a problem that the Persian government failed to recognize.
With the Treaty of Gulistan Persia ceded what is now Georgia, Dagestan, parts of northern Armenia, and most of what now comprises modern Azerbaijan to Russia.

Defeat of the Persians at the hands of the Russians.
The Russo-Persian War of 1826–28 was the last major military conflict between the Russian Empire and Iran.
The war ended following the occupation of Tabriz and had even more disastrous results for Persia than the 1804-1813 war. The ensuing Treaty of Turkmenchay, signed on 10 February 1828 in Torkamanchay, Iran, stripped Persia of its last remaining territories in the Caucasus, which comprised all of modern Armenia, the southern remainder of modern Azerbaijan, and modern Igdir in Turkey. Through the Gulistan and Turkmenchay treaties Persia had lost all of its territories in the Caucasus to Russia making them the unquestioned dominant power in the region. [BBRSM55]

'Abdu'lláh Páshá was the governor of 'Akká from 1919 to 1831. In 1832 when the Egyptians took the city he surrendered and was taken to Egypt. He was freed in 1840 when the area reverted to Turkish rule. [BBD5]

He ruled from 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated on the eve of his jubilee. [BBD168; BBR482]

The first four years of his reign were marked by the `fiercest and bloodiest of the persecutions of the religion of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh'. During the whole of his reign there were `sporadic persecutions and, in at least some cases, he himself was directly responsible for the death of the martyrs'. [BBR157]

For the first time in the Faith's history the civil and ecclesiastical powers banded together in a systematic campaign against it, one that was to `culminate in the horrors experienced by Bahá'u'lláh in the Síyáh-Chál' and `His subsequent banishment to Iraq'. [GPB37]

See BBRSM25 for an explanation of why the Bábí religion was a challenge to the secular regime.

See SB86 for a reason for Násiri'd-Dín Sháh's cruelty towards the Bábís and Bahá'ís.

See RB3:201 for an explanation of his lengthy reign.

He chose as his prime minister Mírzá Taqí Khán-i-Faráhání, known as a great reformer and a founder of modern Iran. [BBD221; BBR160]

It was not until the spring of 1849 that the new regime was in firm control.

His reform antagonized many and a coalition was formed against him. One of the most active proponents was the queen mother. She convinced the Shah that the prime minister wanted his throne. In October of 1851 the Shah dismissed him and exiled him to Kashan where he was murdered on the Shah's orders.

Attempt on the life of the Sháh. [BBR128; BBRSM:30; BKG74–5; DB599; ESW20; GPB62; TN2930]

See BKG74–5 for circumstances of the event.

See BKG76 for the fate of the perpetrators.

See BBR128–46 for reporting of the event in the West.

Ja‘far-Qulí Khán wrote immediately to Bahá'u'lláh telling Him of the event and that the mother of the Sháh was denouncing Bahá'u'lláh as the ‘would-be murderer'. Ja‘far-Qulí Khán offered to hide Bahá'u'lláh. [BKG77; DB602]

During His short stay at this house Bahá'u'lláh also revealed the Súriy-Mulúk (Súrih of Kings). [BKG245; GPB171–2; RB2:301-336; BW19p584]

This is described by Shoghi Effendi as ‘the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá'u'lláh', in which He, ‘for the first time, directed His words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West'. [GPB171]

See GPB172–5 and RB2:301–25 for a description of the content of the Tablet.

In The Bahá'í Faith 1844-1953: Information Statistical & Comparative p41 Shoghi Effendi dated this tablet as "1863". Given the intense activity of that year an assumption was made that it was revealed near the end of the year in either Constantinople or Adrianople.

Chronological list of significant events related to Bahá'u'lláh's historic pronouncement in the Súriy-i-Múlúk

Franco-Prussian War was a conflict between the Second French Empire of Napoleon III and the German states of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. The conflict was caused by Prussian ambitions to extend German unification and French fears of the shift in the European balance of power that would result if the Prussians succeeded.

See KA90 for Bahá'u'lláh's reference to this and KAN121 for `Abdu'l-Bahá's interpretation.

Battle of Sedan. Napoleon III suffered defeat at the hands of Kaiser Wilhelm I. It resulted in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops and for all intents and purposes decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, though fighting continued under a new French government. Napoleon went into exile in England, where he died in 1873.

`Abdu'l-`Azíz either committed suicide or was assassinated. [BBD2; BBR485; GPB225]

Accession of Murád V to the throne. [BBR485]

Bahá'u'lláh had predicted his downfall in the Lawh-i-Fu'ád. [RB3:87]

Bahá'u'lláh stated that the tyranny of Sultán `Abdu'l-`Azíz exceeded that of Násiri'd-Dín Sháh because the Sultán exiled Bahá'u'lláh to the Most Great Prison without any reason whereas the Sháh had reason to be fearful of the Bahá'ís because of the attempt on his life. [BKG412]

Bahá'u'lláh had addressed two Tablets to the Sultán including the Súriy-i-Mulúk (Tablet to the Kings) but he did not respond. [BBD2]

See The Summons of the Lord of Hosts p177-181 for the Lawh-i-Fu'ád and p185-235 for the Súriy-i-Mulúk.

The British navy bombarded Alexandria, beginning or provoking fires that destroyed the city and forced a mass exodus of its population to the interior. In August-September the British invaded the country, restored Khedive Tawfiq to his throne, arrested 'Urabi, the Muslim modernist Muhammad 'Abduh, and other constitutionalists, and imposed a "veiled protectorate" on the country that differed only in name from direct colonial rule. The official British sources attempted to suggest that they had saved Egypt from a military junta allied to Islamic fanaticism, but more impartial observers have characterized the British invasion as the quashing of a grassroots democratic movement by an imperial power in the service of the European bond market. [BFA15, Wilmette Institute faculty notes]

Násiri'd-Dín Sháh was assassinated on the eve of the celebration of his jubilee. He had ascended to the throne in 1848 and by the Islamic lunar calendar it marked the 50th year of his reign. [BKG455]

BBRXXIX and BBRSM219 say it was 1 May.

His assassin, Mírzá Ridá-yi-Kirmáni, a Pan-Islamic terrorist, was a follower of Jamálu'd-Dín-i-Afghání, one of the originators of the Constitutional movement in Iran and an enemy of the Faith. [BBRSM87; GBP296; MCS540]

Muzaffari'd-Dín became the shah of Persia. He was the son of Násiri'd-Dín Sháh. He had been sent as governor to the province of Azerbaijan in 1861 and, as the crown prince, had spent 35 years in the pursuit of pleasure. When he ascended to the throne he was unprepared for the office. In addition, the country had huge debts to both Britain and Russia.

After an almost bloodless revolution Muzaffari'd-Din Sháh was forced to sign a document calling for a National Assembly to be elected from amount the working guilds, landowners merchants and the nobles. The parliament was opened on the 7th of October. [AY24]

The accession of Muhammad-`Alí Sháh to the throne of Iran. He reigned until 1909. He attempted to rescind the constitution and abolish parliamentary government. After several disputes with the members of the Majlis in June, 1908 he bombed the Majlis building, arrested many of the deputies and closed down the assembly. In July 1909 constitutional forces deposed him and he went into exile in Russia from where he attempted to regain his throne. [BBR354, 482, AY218]

The Bahá'í community received some measure of protection under this regime. [BBRSM:97–8]

Anglo-Russian Convention relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet, was signed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The convention brought shaky British–Russian relations to the forefront by solidifying boundaries that identified respective control in the three countries. It delineated spheres of influence in Persia, stipulated that neither country would interfere in Tibet’s internal affairs, and recognized Britain’s influence over Afghanistan. [AY47-48]

In Constantinople, a bomb intended for Sultán 'Abdu'l-Hamíd as he returned from the mosque on Friday, killed and injured a number of people. This event prompted the authorities to recall all the members of the Commission who were gathering evidence against 'Abd'l-Bahá at the time. Some months later the "Young Turk" revolutionaries demanded the release of all political and religious prisoners. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was free by in September. [AB123; BBD4; BBRXXX; CB237; DH71; GPB272]

A cable is sent to Constantinople to enquire whether `Abdu'l-Bahá is included in the amnesty. `Abdu'l-Bahá is set free. [AB123; GPB272]

Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid II lived from 1842 to 1918) and reigned from 1876 to 1909. During his reign large portions of the Ottoman Empire were lost. Following his defeat in the war with Russia in 1878, Tunisia was occupied by France (1881), and Egypt was controlled by Britain (1882). In 1897, the Empire was forced by the Europeans to recognize the autonomy of Crete. The Sultán ruled as a despot, and brutally repressed the Armenians between 1894-6. In 1908, due to the lack of support among the army and the rise of the Young Turks, 'Abdu'l-Hamid was forced re-enact the Constitution of 1876 which he had suspended earlier, and which, for the first time in an Islámic state, defined the rights of both the ruler and his subjects. He was ultimately deposed when he attempted to plot a counterrevolution against the Young Turks and was exiled to Salonika, where he died in disgrace.

See AY189-191 for a description of his riches and his last years. He died in January of 1918.

Accession of Muhammad (-Rishád) V [BBR486]

The last Ottoman Sultán, Muhammad VI, was deposed and was succeeded briefly by a cousin, but in 1924, the caliphate was abolished by Ataturk. The seat of the Caliphate had been located in Istanbul since 1517. [ALM3]

The accession of Ahmad Sháh, the boy-king, to the throne of Iran. He was twelve years old and because of his youth a regency was established under Azudu'l-Mulk, the head of the Qájár family. Ahmad's official coronation took place on the 21st of July, 1914. His reign formerly lasted until October 1925 when he was deposed by the Majles while he was absent in Europe. He was the last of the Qajar dynasty. [BBR482; CBM57]

The Ottoman officials, architects and masons came from Constantinople for the express purpose of planning a city outside of the old prison walls. They opened two large gateways through the thick, solid and ancient walls of the old fort of Acca. Both open out on the green plain in front of Bahji. -Ameen U. Fareed (Star of the West, vol. 1, no. 9, August 20, 1910)

W. Morgan Shuster was an American chosen by the Persian Chargé d’Affaires at Washington, Mirza Ali Kuli Khan, to serve as Treasurer-general of Persian for a period of three years. His mandate was to organize and conduct the collection and disbursements of the revenues. Four American assistants were likewise engaged to serve under the Treasurer-general. Since the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 the country was under the influence of the Russians in the north and the British in the south. The purpose in engaging Shuster was to put the country's financial affairs in order so that they might attract investment from other nations.

After an encounter with the Russian Consul-General he was forced to leave on the 14th of January, 1912. [AY79-82]

News of the Battle of Benghazi (17 October) was headline news. It was one of the opening salvos of the Turko-Italian War and began on the 17th of October when Italian invasion forces began their bombardment of the Turkish garrison. The Turks were forced to abandon the city and there were many lives lost, Italians, Turks and civilians.

`Abdu'l-Bahá sent the Bahá'ís to the Druze village of Abú-Sinán for asylum. [AB411; DH124; GPB304, BWNS1297]

For `Abdu'l-Bahá in war time see CH188–228.

`Abdu'l-Bahá had grown and stored corn in the years leading up to the war and was now able to feed not only local people but the British army. [AB415, 418; CH210; GPB304, 306]

Properties in the villages of Asfíyá and Dálíyá near Haifa were purchased by `Abdu'l-Bahá, and, at the request of Bahá'u'lláh, bestowed upon Díyá'u'lláh and Bahí'u'lláh. Land was also acquired in the villages of Samirih, Nughayb and 'Adasíyyih situated near the Jordan. 'Adasíyyih was the village occupied by Bahá'ís of Zoroastrian heritage that produced corn for the Master's household. The village of Nughayb is were the relatives of the Holy Family lived. [CH209-210]

The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret 1916 agreement between the United Kingdom and France, to which the Russian Empire assented. The agreement allocated to Britain control of areas roughly comprising the coastal strip between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, Jordan, southern Iraq, and an additional small area that included the ports of Haifa and Acre, to allow access to the Mediterranean. France got control of southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Russia was to get Istanbul, the Turkish Straits and Armenia. The controlling powers were left free to determine state boundaries within their areas. Further negotiation was expected to determine international administration in the "brown area" (an area including Jerusalem, similar to and smaller than Mandate Palestine), the form of which was to be decided upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the other Allies, and the representatives of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca. [Wikipedia]

The Balfour Declaration was a letter sent to Lord Walter Rothschild by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour declaring support for the establishment of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in what was to become the British Mandate of Palestine. It was the first official declaration of political support for Jewish independence and is viewed by some as paving the way for the legal foundations of the modern State of Israel as evidenced by the level of international diplomacy that went into securing the letter. In the context of WWI which was still raging at the time, it offered Britain the opportunity for a stake in the Middle East in the expected wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It also marked one of the first major successes of the political Zionist movement which had officially been established with the First Zionist Congress in 1897.

Given that the Balfour Declaration was not a unilateral document on behalf of the British but rather something which had been agreed upon privately by allied diplomats before it was issued, it is viewed as the beginning of a legal process, which involved the San Remo conference of 1920 where the Declaration was officially adopted by the allied powers and latter, the creation of the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922.

The implementation of the Declaration was not without its failings. It provided for the safeguarding of the rights of the residents of Palestine saying ‘nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine’.
In the run up to WWII that the British wanted to placate the Arab leadership in the Mandate. They issued a White Paper limiting Jewish immigration to the Mandate to fifteen thousand every year for five years, ultimately refusing entry to thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe, many of whom would tragically die in the Holocaust. [Wikipedia]

President Woodrow Wilson in a speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress outlined his Fourteen Points. It was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I.

Wilson was influenced by the Bahá’í Teachings in formulating his Fourteen Points, at least three Bahá’í volumes were known to be in the White House. The Hidden Words appears on a 1921 listing of Wilson’s private library. Also, a compilation on peace given the President by a delegation of Washington Bahá’ís ‘turned up in general reference at the Library of Congress marked “transfer from the White House”‘. In addition, Abdul-Baha on Divine Philosophy (Boston, 1918) is said to have much influenced his thinking. [AY155]

Commenting on the Fourteen Points laid down by the President for the world community, the
Master says that twelve of them derive from principles advocated by Bahá’u’lláh fifty years before, and that these Teachings had been spread worldwide through various publications, thus becoming known to leaders in Europe and America (Persian Tablets, vol. III, p. 312). [AY156-157]

"During the early years of World War I, though no longer imprisoned, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá faced repeated threats against His life by authorities who were antagonistic towards Him and the Baha’is. The Commander of the Ottoman fourth army corps had even threatened to crucify ‘Abdu’l-Bahá if the Turkish army were ever to be displaced out of Haifa." Lady Blomfield in London had learned of these threats and through her contacts in Cabinet, the British Army was instructed to protect Him and His family. [BWNS69, BWNS1202]

The British army took the city in the 1st Battle of Haifa: The battle was won due to a courageous uphill assault by the Jodhpur Lancers of the Indian Army who took the German and Turkish artillery and machine gun emplacements on top of Mount Carmel by surprise. This attack is believed to have been one of the last cavalry charge in modern military history. Each year, on this date, the Indian Army commemorates this victory as Haifa Day. [AY104; BBR335; DH148, Scroll In 68095]

For details of the battle see BBR335-6.

For letters from the British authorities stating that `Abdu'l-Bahá is safe see BBR336-7.

See PG85-86, on the 23rd of August, 1919 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in conversation with Major-General Watson, referring to the success of the British army in taking Haifa stated, "God hath wished it to be so, it was His Divine aid and assistance that made it possible." and "It was God that helped you from every standpoint."

The end of the First World War or the Great War. It was a global conflict originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. It led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. An estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a direct result of the war, and it also contributed to later genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic, which caused between 50 and 100 million deaths worldwide. Military losses were aggravated by new technological and industrial developments and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history and precipitated major political changes, including the Revolutions of 1917–1923, in many of the nations involved. Unresolved rivalries at the end of the conflict contributed to the start of World War II about twenty years later. [Wikipedia]

During the war suffered horribly. It is estimated that during one year 120,000 people died of disease and starvation. The Bahá'í communities established relief centres to care for the believers and not a single Bahá'í starved or was even in need. [PG111]

The Treaty of Versailles was concluded. The United States never signed the Treaty of Versailles, never joined the League of Nations which President Wilson's foes derisively referred to as ‘Wilson’s League’. The USA made separate treaties with Germany and the other Central Powers. Wilson died on the 3rd of February, 1924. [AY160-169]

Shoghi Effendi's tribute is as follows:

"To ... President ... Woodrow Wilson, must be ascribed the unique honour, among the statesmen of any nation, whether of the East or of the West, of having voiced sentiments so akin to the principles animating the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, and of having more than any other world leader, contributed to the creation of the League of Nations—achievements which the pen of the Centre of God’s Covenant acclaimed as signalizing the dawn of the Most Great Peace, whose sun, according to that same pen, must needs arise as the direct consequence of the enforcement of the laws of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh." [CoF36]

The Anglo-Persian agreement was signed whereby Persia would get advisors for every department and give every concession to England. It effectively made Persia a British protectorate and eliminated the Russian influence that had been established by the earlier Anglo-Russian pact. The United States Government was much displeased, for this represented a breach of ‘open covenants openly arrived at’, one of Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and represented a continuation of the secret diplomacy of former times. The price of this agreement, according to one official, was £500,000 paid out to one prominent official, and £300,000 to another.

When the Persians discovered by what dubious means this Agreement was contrived, they arose in fury, there was a coup d’état with the backing of the Cossack Brigade, Siyyid Zia-ed-Din came to power (1921) and abrogated the Agreement. Then he himself would be overthrown, and replaced by Reza Khan of the Cossack Brigade as Minister of War and Commander in Chief. Thus an illiterate one-time army private, once a sentry at a hospital gate, would eventually (1925) become a powerful Shah.
[AY172, 210]

The term of The Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration or Mandatory Iraq comes to an end. It had been created in 1921 following the Iraqi Revolt in 1920 and enacted via the 1922 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty. The British chose Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi as king of of Iraq and Syria. He fostered unity between Sunni and Shiite Molsems and tried to promote pan-Arabism with the goal of creating an Arab state in Iraq, Syria and the rest of the Fertile Crescent. Faisal died in Switzerland at the age of 48, under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances, while there for a medical examination. [Wikipedia]

In Iran, Ridá Sháh abdicates and Muhammad-Ridá Sháh ascends to the throne. His rule was to last until 1979. [BBR482]

Ridá Sháh is overthrown by the British and Russians. [BBRSM173]

His reign can be described in three phases:

The first phase, from1941 through 1955, was a period characterized by physical danger, during which Baha’is were scapegoated in the interactions among the government, the clerics and the people, and experienced several bloody incidents, the culmination of which was the 1955 anti-Baha’i campaign and its aftermaths.

The second phase, from the late 1950s to around 1977, marked almost two decades of relative respite from physical attacks, during which Baha’is enjoyed more security than before, without ever being officially recognized as a religious community and while their existence as Baha’is was essentially ignored or denied.

The 2nd Battle of Haifa: A Jewish offensive to gain control of the strategic port of Haifa. Prior to the 30-hour battle the Arab population of Haifa was estimated to be 65,000 compared to 70,000 Palestinian Jews. At the end of the operation the Arab population was reduced to about 4,000 people. [Battle of Haifa]

It was largely through the one-man campaign of a Polish jurist, Raphael Lemkin, someone who had lost family members in the Nazi holocaust, and who had invented the term "genocide", that the Resolution was adopted. [In Search of a Better World by Payam Akhavan p91-92]

The attitude at the time could be summed up in the words "Never again!" however the world would have to wait another 50 years before the International Criminal Court would be established to provide any real meaning to this Resolution.

15 years after the establishment of Israel and during the course of the unrest that swept through Iran in response to a set of far-reaching reforms launched by Muhammad-Ridá Sháh, Ayatollah Khomeini and the Association of Iranian Clerics, in two separate declarations, denounced Bahá'ís as agents and representatives of Israel, and demanded their severe repression.
During the 1960s and 70s almost everything that troubled Iranian clerics was seen as evidence of a Bahá'í-Israeli plot against Islam. The Shah, who was harshly rebuked by the ‘ulama for his regime’s strong ties with Israel, was accused of being a Bahá'í because of some of the reforms he had introduced, notably his giving voting rights to women, and providing blue-collar industrial workers with a share of the profits earned by their companies. Various cultural events launched by the administration, some of which had clear Western tones, were seen as Bahá'í plots to undermine the Islamic identity of Iranians. Iranian ministers and courtiers were almost collectively accused of being Bahá'ís. Even Iran’s notorious intelligence agency, SAVAK, whose strong anti-leftist agenda had naturally led to its inclination to recruit people with Islamic ties, and which had obvious connections with the Hujjatieh society – the self-professed arch-enemies of the Bahá'ís – was seen as nothing more than a Bahá'í puppet. Consequently, the 1979 Islamic Revolution came about not just as an uprising against the Shah, but supposedly as a reaction to an Israeli-Bahá'í threat.
[Iran Press Watch 1407]

A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity. WOB203

1844 May 24 Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first telegraphic message over an experimental line from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, the message said: "What hath God wrought?"

1894 May 10 Marconi sends a radio wave 3/4 mile, the first "wireless" transmission.

1858 Aug 16 the first transatlantic telegraph cable is an undersea cable running under the Atlantic Ocean used for telegraph communications was laid across the floor of the Atlantic from Telegraph Field, Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The first communications occurred August 16, 1858, reducing the communication time between North America and Europe from ten days.

1969 October 29 The birth of the Internet. First message from computer to computer in different locations. UCLA student Charley Kline attempts to transmit the text “login” to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute over the first link on the ARPANET, which was the precursor to the modern Internet. After the letters “l” and “o” are sent the system crashed, making the first message ever sent on the Internet “lo” and the first crash of the system.

The publication of Century of Light, a statement by the Universal House of Justice. The purpose of the book is to provide members of the Faith with a perspective on two defining processes that unfolded during the 20th century; on the one hand, the sequence of events that made the unification of humanity the principal feature of modern history and, on the other, the emergence from obscurity of the Cause of God and its Administrative order. It is primarily a resource for Bahá'í study and deepening. It is not a public information publication. [TP777-778]

Bahá'ís from the north and south of Cyprus met when they were permitted to cross the demarcation line that had divided the island for three decades. The event followed the decision by the Turkish Cypriot authorities to lift the ban on travel across the cease-fire line. Some 60 Turkish and Greek Bahá'ís held a devotional meeting together at the Bahá'í center in Nicosia. [BWNS216]

After the January 25th revolution against Mubarak and a period of rule by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt through a series of popular elections with Egyptians electing Islamist Mohamed Morsi to the presidency in June 2012.

On 3 July 2013, Morsi was deposed by a coup d'état led by the minister of defense General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The situation of Egypt’s Bahá’í community remained uncertain. The prescriptions of the 1960 Presidential Decree, despite the revolution, had yet to be annulled. This meant that despite the 2009 lifting of the restrictions on identification documents, the Bahá’í Faith still had not received actual recognition as a religion and Bahá'í were frequently subjected to public vilification. It was a period of extreme unrest. It is estimated that between Sisi's overthrow of Morsi and the 2014 presidential elections, an estimated 20,000 activists and dissidents were arrested by the police under the interim government. El-Sisi went on to become Egypt's president by popular election in 2014.

In the presidential election in Egypt, former Egyptian defence minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected with 97% of the vote according to government sources. The subsequent 2014 Constitution of the Sisi government, while guaranteeing the ‘inviolable’ right of freedom of religion, extended this only to Islam, Christianity and Judaism – meaning that Bahá’i were still prohibited from many basic freedoms, such as practicing their religious laws and constructing places of worship. Though Bahá’í representatives lobbied during the constitutional drafting processes to expand religious freedoms to their community, this did not occur.

In December 2014, a public workshop was held by the Ministry of Religious Endowments to warn of the dangers of the spread of the Bahá’i faith in Egypt.

Century of Light, by Universal House of Justice (2001). Survey of the history and dramatic changes of the 20th Century and the Bahá'í Faith's emergence from obscurity, "demonstrating on a global scale the unifying power with which its Divine origin has endowed it." [about]

Empire for the Faithful, A Colony for the Dispossessed, An, by Robert D. Crews, in Cahiers d'Asie centrale, 17/18 (2009). History of the establishment of Tsarist power in Turkestan and the goal of earning support from their Muslim territories. Includes discussion of the Baha'i Faith in Ashkhabad and Russian/Baha'i mutual political interests in Persia and Turkey. (Offsite.) [about]

Exile from El Salvador: A Conversation with Antonio, by Eileen Estes and Richard Hollinger, in dialogue magazine, 1:4 (1987). Interview with a former member of the Salvadorean Baha'i community about his history, and about threats to the Central American refugee community in Los Angeles. Includes report "Human Rights Workers in El Salvador Suppressed," by Steven Hall-Williams. [about]

Growth and Spread of the Baha'i Faith, The, by Arthur Hampson (1980). A detailed attempt to describe and account for the spread of the Baha'i Faith, including the roles played by its centralized leadership, its belief system, and its policies, as well as attitudes and conditions outside the control of the Baha'i movement. [about]

History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, by John William Draper (1864). A selection of excerpts from the book. Contains no mention of the Baha'i Faith, but is of interest partly because Abdu'l-Baha referred to this book in Secret of Divine Civilization.[about]

Humanity's Coming Encounter with Baha'u'llah, by Douglas Martin, in American Bahá'í (1992). Retrospective look at the previous 100 years of Baha'i history, current shifts of focus and teaching plans, and the prospects for the future which the new Message can bring. [about]

Islam in Persia, by W. St. Clair Tisdall, in The Mohammedan World of To-Day (1906). Passing discussions of Babis and Baha'is in Iran at the start of the 20th century (pages 115-118, 121, 129-130). [about]

Ita and the Sandinista Revolution, by Robert G. Wilson, in dialogue magazine, 1:4 (1987). An interview with Ita, one of the earliest participants in the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua that resulted in the removal of Anastasio Somoza from power in 1979. Includes letter about the organization "Quest for Peace." [about]

Mafia, Mob and Shiism in Iraq: The Rebellion of Ottoman Karbala 1824-1843, by Juan Cole and Moojan Momen, in Past and Present, 112 (1986). On the role of gangs in urban social history of the 19-century Ottoman empire; with a decline in government control, gangs ran protection rackets and acted as a parallel government, making alliances and becoming popular leaders against an alien threat. [about]

Notes on the Twentieth Century, by Douglas Martin (2001). Multiple transcriptions of talks given in Atlanta, New York, and Massachusetts in September and October, 2001, largely based on the document Century of Light. [about]

President Wilson and the Bahá'í Connection, by Paul Pearsall, in Herald of the South (1988). Short overview of myths and facts on the Wilson-Baha'i connection. Includes addenda on the League of Nations, by Vincent Littrell, and on the Fourteen Points, by Bahram Nadini. [about]

Promised Day is Come, The, by Shoghi Effendi (1980). A book-length letter written by Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís of the West, dated 28 March 1941, about Bahá'u'lláh's letters to the kings and rulers, and their relation to historical events. [about]

Religion in the Modem World, by Anjam Khursheed, in Singapore Bahá'í Studies Review, vol. 6 (2001). On aspects of the Western secular rebellion against theocracy and the rise of free enquiry and freedom of conscience through the lens of the European Reformation and Galileo’s conflict with the Papacy; religion's role in strengthening family unity. [about]

Seeking Light in the Darkness of "Race", by Jamar Wheeler, in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 27:3 (2017). A historical sketch of how race concepts evolved, with analysis at macro and micro levels of society. Oneness of mankind is an enlightening force that, through individual agency and collective social action, can transform society. [about]

Tablet of Maqsud, by Universal House of Justice (2001). Date of the revelation of the Tablet of Maqsúd and its mention of "Two great powers." [about]

Tablet of Wisdom Questions and Answers, by Abdu'l-Bahá, in Ethel Jenner Rosenberg, the Life and Times of England's Outstanding Bahá'í Pioneer Worker, by Robert Weinberg (1995). Authorized translation of unpublished Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to Ethel Rosenberg in 1906 in reply to her questions about historical statements in the Lawh-i-Hikmat.[about]